Letter to the Editor

Evidence of a non-equipartition energy regime in 1803+784

Core-shift and Faraday rotation measurements from simultaneous multi-frequency polarimetric VGOS observations

¹ Observatorio Astronómico Nacional (OAN-IGN), Calle Alfonso XII 3, 28014 Madrid, Spain
² Dpt. Astronomia i Astrofísica, Universitat de València, C/ Dr. Moliner 50, 46120 Burjassot, Spain
³ Observatori Astronòmic, Universitat de València, C/ Cat. José Beltrán 2, 46980 Paterna, Spain
⁴ Centro de Desarrollos Tecnológicos, Observatorio de Yebes (IGN), 19141 Yebes, Guadalajara, Spain

^⋆ Corresponding author.

Received: 28 May 2025
Accepted: 30 July 2025

Abstract

Context. Compact jets from active galactic nuclei (AGN) are commonly assumed to be in equipartition between particle and magnetic-field energy densities at the regions where the radio emission dominates at centimetre wavelengths. This assumption has significant implications for both jet physics and the accuracy of VLBI-based astrometry and geodesy.

Aims. We tested the validity of the energy equipartition hypothesis in AGN cores at centimetre wavelengths by analysing the blazar 1803+784 using simultaneous broadband full-polarization observations with the VLBI Global Observing System (VGOS).

Methods. We present VGOS observations of the blazar 1803+784 covering the 3–11 GHz frequency range. The data were processed using a dedicated calibration pipeline, followed by model fitting and multi-frequency imaging analysis. We measured the frequency-dependent core shift and mapped the spectral index and rotation measure (RM) across the source.

Results. We find a core-shift power-law index of k_r = 0.73_−0.19^+0.12, significantly deviating from the expected equipartition value of k_r = 1. This indicates that either the equipartition condition or the conical jet geometry, or both, are not fulfilled in the centimetre-wavelength core region. The wide frequency coverage of VGOS also allows us to decouple the Faraday rotation of the core into an internal component (RM_I = 121 ± 8 rad m⁻², produced in the core region) and an external component (RM_E = −44 ± 9 rad m⁻², associated with a distant, extended medium that may also affect the polarization in downstream regions of the jet at larger scales).

Conlcusions. These results demonstrate the power of VGOS for high-fidelity simultaneous multi-frequency polarimetric studies of compact AGN jets, and underline the need to account for non-equipartition effects in both jet astrophysics and geodetic VLBI.